Invisible Patients: Addressing the Healthcare Needs of Forcibly Displaced Children

BACKGROUNDAs of 2024, UNICEF estimates that nearly 49 million children worldwide have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to political conflict, violence, and climate change. 1 Many of these children face multiple intersecting adversities, such as witnessing violent atrocities, family separation, financial difficulties, and the acculturation stress related to adjusting to resettlement communities.These adversities produce and exacerbate underlying mental health conditions for youth.One systematic review of 3003 children in 40 countries found that between 19%-54% of the study population had posttraumatic stress disorder and between 3%-30% had depression. 2 Thus, forcibly displaced children represent a growing, vulnerable population in need of systematic intervention.In this article, we propose and review 3 main strategies for building the capacity of health care systems to address the needs of these children: 1) design trainings and improve collaboration between pediatricians and child psychiatrists; 2) implement standardized assessments for evaluating forcibly displaced youth; and 3) improve access to culturally competent care.